Supermarket display shelves are oftentimes crowded with a multitude of consumer products, each of which vies for customer attention. As such, it has been found that shelf extenders are a useful merchandising tool which can not only highlight a particular product on a crowded shelf but also assist the market owner in providing additional shelf space for housing product inventories.
Shelf extenders are generally provided for extending from the forward edge of a supermarket shelf by several inches. Because of the constantly changing nature and repositioning of supermarket merchandise, it is imperative that shelf extenders be not only easily removable from a shelf surface but also flexible in being accepted by a variety of shelves and whose position can be altered without necessarily removing connecting means attaching the shelf extender to its supporting shelf structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,280 which issued on Aug. 19, 1986 teaches a one-piece extruded plastic shelf extender which has proven to be quite useful.
However, the shelf extender of the '280 patent possesses certain limitations which are inherent in its design and construction. Specifically, the shelf extender of the prior art is provided with outwardly extending lips from its bottom surface which are intended to be gripped by channel means located along the front surface of the shelf to be extended. As such, the shelf extender of the '280 patent is limited in its use in at least two important respects. Firstly, the prior art shelf extender can only be used in conjunction with shelving having a forward extending channel.
Secondly, although the shelf extender can be positioned by sliding it along the forward-facing channel of the supporting shelf, its extension from the supporting shelf cannot be varied thus providing significant limitations in its overall usefulness.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a shelf extender having a more universal application than those of the prior art.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a shelf extender which is easily connected to a supporting shelf and yet which is capable of being repositioned on said shelf without removal of said connector means.
These and further objects will be more readily appreciated when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.